New Co-worker!

We are excited to welcome a new co-worker into T.E.A.M.!!! Welcome to Sabastian Cus, a young man from Columbia who speaks K'ekchi. We are excited to be able to work on K'ekchi Bible studies again. We look forward to starting Bible studies in a K'ekchi village or two in the near future. Please pray for him and all of us as we work to accomplish the things God has before us!

It looks like this week we will be moving around some of the pastors pigs... but they are several hundred pounds now! Not the same task as when they were little, that's for sure!

Piglets!

As you may know, we have been actively involved in a project to help provide income for the families of pastors. Last year, through the generous gifts of others, we purchased and delivered 3 piglets to each of the pastors who wanted them. Time has past, and the pigs did not work out for some of the pastors. Others are still pressing on, waiting to see how their efforts will turn out. We saw the first fruits of the project this weekend, as one of the pastors' sows had piglets! It wasn't a very large litter (only three!), but they look healthy, and it was exciting to see the first "pigs for pastors" piglets!

HaPpy HapPy Birthday to Rebecca

Today is Rebecca's special day! I am very thankful for another year that God has allowed us to work together for the Kingdom! What an awesome opportunity! Happy Birthday to a True woman of God!

Cute Dolly

Just wanted to post a picture of an adorable little girl (I am obviously talking about the small one with chocolate skin!). Her name is Kathlyn LeAnne, and is one of my goddaughters.

T. E. Assisting. M

It seems that T.E.A.M. has specialized in the 'A' part of our acronym lately...

Last Friday, Clifford went to assist a local work and witness team who is working on continuing a building started by a work and witness team from the States. Rev. Andres Coh and a group from his church, as well as a neighboring church, left on Monday to work on building the trusses. I had been asked to go and pick them up Friday evening, but Clifford decided to go Friday morning and spend the day working with them.

The men had worked hard all week, and were putting up the last of the big trusses that day. Clifford was blessed by the spirit of unity and the willingness to work that was displayed by all. Here are a few pictures from that day:

What a blessing to see men of God working for His kingdom!

Yesterday, I had the unexpected opportunity of helping the Sunday school teachers in Big Falls teach a Bible class to preschoolers at the local (catholic) school. Bro. Andres came yesterday morning asking for my help, so I threw some things together and went!

His Sunday school teachers did a wonderful job, and it was a joy to join with them in teaching the precious little children. What a handful those kids are, though! It was a fun change of pace, and I trust the few seeds planted will be cultivated over time.

Feeding on His Word

Dear friends,

Dry season must officially be here... overnight we went from cool, wetter weather, to the terrible heat of dry season (can you tell I don't like hot weather??? :) ). Currently it is 9:30 a.m. and my thermometer says 85 degrees with 69% humidity... inside. Ah well, we shall survive (I think!).

We had a team here for the last two weeks. This always makes life busier, but it is a blessing to see others caring for the people here. Thanks to everyone from Kansas (oops, and the Okies too!) for all that you did for the people of Toledo! We trust God will multiply your efforts as time goes on.

Bible studies continue to go well... I look forward to the day when more people catch the vision of studying God's word, but for now it continues to be a delight to see people feeding on His Word! Once again this weekend we had the privilege of guiding the attendees to dispel some long held fallacies, just by pointing them to the right Scriptures. God's word is truly sharper than a two-edged sword.

In a recent study, the fallacy that was dispelled was that God lies. The misunderstanding over a certain passage had caused some to conclude that God sometimes just says things to frighten people, but He doesn't really mean it. Wow. How strong would your faith be in a "god" who can lie to you?

Please keep praying for these Bible studies, for the attendees, and for us in our preparations each week.

Monkeys and the bliss of floating on air :)

Life has been busy the last few days...

Besides having a team here, I taught Bible study as usual Saturday evening, attended a wedding Sunday morning, taught Bible study Sunday afternoon, drove 2 hours to a memorial service and back again the same night. Yesterday morning I took some local workers to a village 2 hours down the rough road to work on a church in San Benito Poite, and came back again, then took an injured friend back to his village... involving another 2 hour round trip! Whew!

Now on to the title...

Monkeys... since the hurricane in October of 2001, the wildlife has been more scarce due to the deforestation (or would it be dejunglation???) caused by the hurricane. However, animals have been gradually moving back in... we have a roaming jaguar by the center, although I haven't got to see it yet (only hear it...). But, last week, on a trip to a village, we got to see monkeys up in a tree along the road. I have seen them in a wildlife reserve, but not just in the wild. It was pretty neat.

Bliss of floating on air... yesterday I was just a little road weary. All that driving on our famously terrible roads eventually wears on a person. So... when we arrived at my injured friends' home, I stretched out in the hammock for a quick bit of rest. I didn't appreciate hammocks much before I came to Belize, but I have become convinced of the wonderful invention they truly are. Perfect for sleeping at any time, a hammock is most delightful when one is exhausted and achy. When you stretch out across that hammock, and it swings slowly in the breeze... everything seems to just melt away. The noise of chickens, dogs, and children all melt away, and the feeling of being suspended above every thing, including time, slides sweetly over your body. There is nothing quite like it...unless of course you awake from said state of bliss to the sound of fresh corn tortillas being baked! Ahh.... It was a refreshing and much needed moment of rest!